I am looking for a word that has the opposite, positive connotation from 'stigma':

For example,

There is a stigma of laziness associated with poor people.

What would be the replacement for 'stigma' in this sentence in opposite world:

There is a ??? of industriousness associated with rich people.

Using a thesaurus tends towards cleanliness or lack of blemish. But I'm thinking of 'stigma' not as a blemish, but rather a negative connotation, so that the antonym I'm looking for is not the lack of a blemish but a postive connotation (i.e. that 'stigma' -means- 'negative connotation').

@Sam: Sorry, yes, I was trying to keep as simple as possible, but that makes my example sentences pretty inflammatory. 'Unjustifiable' and 'mythical' are things I would apply to both situations (which actually is my main motivation. I keep sensing in others that rich people have an (I find) extremely unfounded aura of 'betterness' attached to them...um...did I just answer my own question?)
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MitchApr 1 '11 at 14:36

How about instead of extremely unfounded which does seem prejudicial, something like, a possibly undeserved aura?
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SamApr 1 '11 at 14:41

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Notwithstanding the specific example in OP, is it to be generally supposed that a 'stigma' is unjustified?
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FumbleFingersApr 1 '11 at 16:58

@FumbleFingers: as part of the connotations of the words, no, there is no sense of justified or unjustified at all, just that there is some kind of special psychological ...'thing' about the modified object, such as your adversaries in a game are seen to be 'evil', or when a team loses a game, they feel like they are somehow 'bad'. None of these are necessary at all, just commonly associated. I am calling these stigmas, and I'm looking for a positive version.
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MitchApr 1 '11 at 17:23

If OP is looking for an antonym that includes some negative connotations, I suggest kudos.

In my experience kudos is often used somewhat disparagingly, with a suggestion that the reputation being refered to may in fact be undeserved or overrated.

In light of subsequent clarification from OP, I suggest hallmark. It can't be used in exactly the same way as some other offerings, and sometimes it's used in reference to undesirable qualities, but "The hallmark of industriousness is associated with rich people" sounds good to me.

For what ever reason, I've never found 'kudos' to have good 'mouth-feel'. It also has the connotation of the action of congratulations (what's the opposite of that?), whereas 'stigma' is just a static thing.
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MitchApr 1 '11 at 18:25

If we can discard the requirement that our two words should have either positive or negative connotations, I'd go for stamp as being pretty neutral in either example.
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FumbleFingersApr 1 '11 at 23:57

kudos isn't quite the right part of speech, though. Or something. Anyway, it doesn't work in "There is a ??? of industriousness associated with rich people."
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MarthaªApr 2 '11 at 0:11

@Martha: I agree There is a kudos of industiousness associated with rich people sounds a bit 'iffy'. But The kudos of industriousness is associated... seems perfectly unremarkable to me.
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FumbleFingersApr 2 '11 at 23:26

or 'veneer' too but those have the extra connotation of covering up, cosmetic appearance, which can be considered slightly negative. I'm looking for something that is just plain positive.
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MitchApr 1 '11 at 14:39

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Also consider "air," as in, "She had an air of success about her." Still, "patina" would be my choice as it is almost always used in a positive sense, alluding to qualities burnished over time.
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The RavenApr 1 '11 at 15:37

'air' sounds more neutral but might work for both positive and negative. You're convincing me little by little that 'patina' might work too. Annoyingly, online definitions give hardly any nuance to any of these, even the well-known metaphorical use of 'patina'.
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MitchApr 1 '11 at 16:02